it's not too late - if we do some things

We can still win the West, make a statement in the playoffs AND build momentum for next year.

I like the idea of at least a partial firesale. For those who say "who's going to take guys like Koplove, Clark, etc."" - just look at Russ Ortiz. Even HE got picked up.

I am leery of bringing up much more pitching. We NEED to trade for one of the FA pitchers that might be out there. I want Dontrelle, but it's looking more and more like he will stay put in Miami as they are under pressure to win to keep themselves in South Florida or make themselves attractive to Vegas or Oregon. Somehow there MUST be a 1-2 punch in the starting rotation or else we will suck for the next 2-3 years until the Baby Back pitchers like Owings get totally ready (next year may be too soon for Owings and DON'T you dare bring him up this year and blow his arm!!!!!)

I have said this before - one of the reasons for a farm system is to have some good players to give in trade if we need to! Richie Sexson aside!

If the D-Backs concede this season by the All-Star Break I just might switch my fanship - to a franchise that gives a care about winning and putting a quality product out there year after year and being proactive in making moves to help the team.

GM Byrnes must NOT stand by and let this franchise become the Cubs of the West!!!!

And as for Ken "I want to have integrity in this franchise even if it scares good players away" Kendrick - if you're gonna be like the Bidwill family (and the Edgerrin and Leinart signings have NOT convinced me yet!!!!) then Phoenix does NOT need you as a sports owner. Sell your stake to Lute Olson.

We could've had Moreno!

Did you catch the article in Sunday's Arizona Republic profiling Angels owner Arte Moreno, a U of A graduate like myself and Suns owner Robert Sarver?

http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/0625moreno0625.html

I read that article with great interest. While I am generally a big Jerry fam from the old Suns days, I was kind of disturbed to hear that Jerry possibly hugely disrespected someone with the first-rate business acumen and positive attitude towards the average fan of Moreno. Very, very sad and unfortunate. To think we could now have Moreno running the show here instead of Mr. Ken "I'd better call E J Montini back and set the record straight" Kendrick.

Here's an execrpt of note:

"...The day he bought the Angels, he cut the cost of beer, tickets and souvenirs. And he hasn't raised them since...The only thing Moreno likes more than a beer, a dog and a ballgame is making a young fan smile...At home in Anaheim, he ordered a new line of affordable caps and T-shirts for the team's souvenir shops. 'When I came in, our lowest price on ball caps was $19.95,' Moreno says. "A guy or a mother takes a son or daughter into the gift shop, you don't want them to be embarrassed. So I put a $6.95 hat in...They told me you're going to lose money selling a $6.95 cap. Well, we sold almost 60,000 hats. I'm in the marketing business and those boys are wearing my hats'..."

Now that's what I call an owner. And he has kept the club competitive on the field and kept the momentum going from the 2002 World Series championship.

We would have been NL West contenders the last 3-4 years with Moreno involved, and especially if Colangelo stepped aside as part of a more amiable transition of power similar to the Robert Sarver deal. Chase Field would be packed every night with real fans paying reasonable prices for seats instead of a bunch of Mets/Dodgers/Phillies fans paying $15+ a seat to shout "Let's Go Mets" to a bunch of guys in road grays.

Now Moreno has brought bona fide respectability to a franchise that was always second banana to the Blue Crew all its life, and we are a long way from the Big Purple Machine we rightfully should be.

2004 all over again????

We are now at .500 after losing to the Rays in St. Pete today.

We have now lost 15 of 17.

I have been on three different message boards saying we need to make a run for a pennant.

At the rate we are going we will be lucky to finish the season at .500. But then again, we are in the NL West. That very well might be good enough FOR the pennant.

Why even have Major League Baseball in Phoenix if we cannot build a team which contends each year for a pennant? And come to the field ready to go toe to toe with the elite in the NL Central or NL East?

1. Does management know anything about baseball at all???? In 1998 Colangelo hired Showalter to get a baseball guy in here to get the franchise going. Then Bob Brenly used guys Showalter and Joe Jr. assembled and won the WS.

Can someone tell me what happened? I love Jerry but I was not in favor of Showalter OR Brenly getting fired when those firings happened.

2. I am beginning to understand what it means to suffer through losing seasons while talent develops in the minor leagues. I am torn between trading a couple of prospects for people who can get us over the top - or just waiting for the Baby Backs to develop and making a run in 2007...2008...2009...

When I expressed my frustration over waiting for a winner on another forum, you want to know what one response was? I'm paraphrasing here but...

"Maybe you need to stop following baseball."

WTF?????

Should the Diamondbacks - and their fans - just roll over, accept a team that plays worse than the Cubs - even with Kerry Wood - and just come to Chase Field to see the opposing team score 20 runs on us while THEIR fans chant THEIR cheers wearing THEIR colors???? And root for a silly-looking big cup of Pepsi in our Taco Bell version of the Brewers Sausage Race??? Introduced by a SPOKESMODEL?????? What is a SPOKESMODEL doing at a BASEBALL game??????

But I digress.

GrimsleyGate Part Deux: Kendrick vs. Gonzo

You knew it had to happen.

I happened to see in the Arizona Republic today a front-page column by E. J. Montini. The article basically noted Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick's displeasure with a column Montini wrote for Tuesday's paper openly questioning the team's hard-line stance regarding Jason Grimsley. Kendrick responded to Montini's column during a phone conversation, where Kendrick also says basically that he does not like players he perceives as taking performance enhancing drugs and ruining the integrity of the game of baseball.

Says Montini in today's edition: "...Among other things, Kendrick told me the team has "quietly" gotten rid of players that it suspected were using steroids. He spoke candidly against what he called the 'whispers' of steroid use that have pestered Diamondbacks star Luis Gonzalez. And he said the Diamondbacks are working on a code of conduct that goes above and beyond the standards that already exist in Major League Baseball. He even took a shot at baseball's biggest suspected cheater, Barry Bonds, and the federal authorities who are hounding him...

"...Kendrick said that, if he had his way, there would be strong penalties for a first offense, including counseling, while a second offense would get a player banned from the game. Current policy calls for a 50-game suspension for a first offense, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for the third..."

Luis Gonzalez was so mad at the fact that his team's owner was bringing his name up about this in the front page of the leading major daily newspaper in the desert Southwest, that he called a press conference before the D-Backs 8-1 loss against the Giants today at the BOB.

"...'Just to have your name thrown in it - I've had phone calls from 7:30 this morning till right now...I don't want to be in this situation. I don't think any of my teammates do...My focus is to play baseball. When I woke up this morning and see something like that on the front page, that's definitely not the way I want to start my morning.'..."

Gonzo went on to say that Kendrick basically is the boss, he signs the paycheck, and Gonoz's responsibility is to "my teammates and to the fans".

On AZ SnakePit I brought up the widely rumored idea that Gonzo's 57 HR's in 2001 may have been the result of performance-enhancing substances. Other fans around baseball have brought this up on AZ SnakePit and other forums. I did not directly accuse Gonzo, but in my post I concluded by saying "Say it ain't so Gonzo!"

Sounds like he's sayin' it aint so. But I think Kendrick wants proof.

"...He said, 'Would you, based upon that information (the 2001 home-run numbers) if you had no other information - and we don't have any other, by the way - act on Luis Gonzalez? . . . Can you make that decision based on the facts that we have? I think you need more. And how do we get more? We get more by the testing protocols that we now have. Expanding the testing to include substances that we can't now test for. It's just a long, hard, complicated process, and you just have to be dedicated to it and say we've got to work at this because it's slowly undermining what we are.'..."

Kendrick wants integrity and that is admirable...but if his quest to have a clean team means the Diamondbacks lose focus and lose games as a direct result - with little ot no proof that players are cheating - and with the Player's Association possibly taking action against the D-backs as a result - I as a fan would have a huge, huge problem with that. But Montini says Kendrick even has an answer for that:

"...'The union will not like the fact that we're going to basically release players before they would ordinarily be released under the current guidelines. We're going to do that.'

And what if doing so makes the team lose?

'That's OK, we'll accept that,' Kendrick said. 'I will sleep better knowing that we've tried to do something. . . . I think that what happens over time is that we get ballplayers who want to play here because we do have a more positive culture.'

Kendrick said he got into the business of baseball 'because I love the sport, and I want it to be a community-based enterprise, and I want us to do things right.'..."

I'm beginning to wonder if Kendrick got into the business of baseball not quite knowing what he was getting into. Professional athletics is different in many ways from other industries. You are dealing with athletes who use their bodies to bring in revenue the same way other businesses use refrigerators or hamburgers or antibiotics. Athletes will do whatever they feel it takes to win. I'm not saying taking illegal substances is the correct way, but you have to face reality. Players do what they can to win.

Kendrick, IMO, should just stick to what MLB is doing and let the investigations take their course. If he wants players to agree to the MLB-sanctioned testing as a part of their contracts, fine...but this extra stuff he wants to do - I think that is overreacting. And frankly I believe Kendrick's response is adding fuel to a fire that could burn up the D-Backs' season.

Today, a team spokesman told the Associated Press that Kendrick would not be making further comment on this matter.

This ain't over. Let's hope the D-backs can focus on a pennant. The Giants, Dodgers and Padres will not feel sorry for these guys just because of a scandal - or rumors of one.

When I attend Diamondbacks games

I will try and post a report on how the game went, so you can get a sense of how i experience the game as a paying fan. I would like to talk about the ticket-buying experience, the food, and the Annoying Blonde. (The between-innings entertainment on the JumboTron is hosted by a rather annoying blonde spokesmodel with absolutely no character IMHO.)

In general, I am not too terribly impressed with the peripheral entertainment at Chase Field. The best part of the game day experience would have to be the player introductions. Otherwise I think the little cartoons and the attempts to get people to clap their hands rather suck.

The Oakland A's back in the '80's and '90's had no organist, which made for a more natural cheering experience. Fans cheered and got into the game when THEY wanted to and at times the atmosphere was just electric. When music was called for, recorded songs were played.

Turner Field in Atlanta, they have an organist, but you heard just as much pre-recorded music as well. The organist there would play the legendary "tomahawk chop" song to get the fans fired up, and an animated tomahawk graphic would move on the scoreboard, but it was always best when the fans started that by themselves.

I like the organist at Chase but I think he needs to not try and get the people to clap so often. Let the fans see for themselves when the appropriate time to clap is.

Wednesday Night Baseball

San Francisco Giants (32-32) vs. Diamondbacks (35-29)
Wednesday, June 14 - 6:40pm MST
Matt Cain (4-5, 5.20 ERA) faces Claudio Vargas (6-3, 5.34 ERA)
Roof closed

Can Vargas get a win? He gave up a first-inning HR to Steve Finley but looks like he is settling down nicely.

I will put on some more thoughts later.

Sidewinders update

From the Sidewinders website:

Portland, OR - Scott Hairston and Carlos Quentin each had a two run homer and Mike Schultz recorded the final six outs for his first save of the season as the Sidewinders won their ninth consecutive game, 4-3 over the Portland Beavers on Monday night at PGE Park. The Sidewinders maintained their three and a half game lead over Las Vegas in the Pacific Southern division...Dustin Nippert (8-1) worked 5 2/3 innings and allowed eight hits and three earned runs. He walked three and struck out a season high eight batters.

Good for the Tucsons. I especially like the part that says "Scott Hairston and Carlos Quentin each had a two run homer".

Tonight's game: Giants at D-Backs

San Francisco Giants (32-21) vs. Diamondbacks (34-29)
Tuesday, June 13 - 6:40pm MST
RHP Jamey Wright (5-5, 4.65 ERA) faces RHP Enrique Gonzalez (1-0, 2.40 ERA)

"...Gonzalez made his major league debut on May 28 in Cincinnati. He allowed one run in six innings with a walk and four strikeouts. He left with a 4-1 lead in a game the Diamondbacks lost 5-4.

Gonzalez picked up his first victory the next time out, allowing two runs in six innings at Atlanta. He issued one walk and had eight strikeouts in a 4-2 win. In both starts, he went straight after the hitters and didn't create any real jams for himself...Signed as a non-drafted free agent out of Bolivar, Venezuela, as a 16-year-old in 1998, Gonzalez has a fastball that regularly clocks in the upper 90s. He also relies on an effective slider and a better-than-average change-up. (Manager Bob) Melvin admits he may not have paid close enough attention to Gonzalez in spring training. 'But, boy, he's a starter. There's no question about it,' Melvin said..." Bob McManaman, The Arizona Republic

We will see how he does. The Giants have lost 4 of their last 5 games and are openly wondering (according to the San Francisco Chronicle) if Barry Bonds, the new home run king of baseball, will go through a GrimsleyGate-like situation with a possible federal indictment for perjury and tax evasion.

What a season.

UPDATE: According to Diamondbacks flagship radio station KTAR, pitcher Russ Ortiz, who has not won very many games since signing a $33 million contract during the 2004 offseason, has been designated for assignment (DFA). He will most likely be released if another team does not claim him after 10 days. LHP Randy Choate will be called up from the minors to replace him on the D-Back roster. He has about $22 million left on his contract which the Diamondback organization will most likely need to pay.

I was outspoken in recent days on the AZSnakePit that Ortiz must be released for the good of the team and that he needs to acknowledge that after many unsuccessful chances to regain his form, he is no longer a good pitcher, and that he needs to retire from the game of baseball.

Ortiz, previously with the Giants and Braves, was 0-5 with a 7.54 ERA in six starts this year, and was 5-11 with a 6.89 ERA last year. He is 108-71 overall with a 4.23 ERA in an eight-year career.

The Dontrelle Watch

I think we need to acquire Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins, even if we must give up a good prospect for him. Most of the guys on AZSnakePit disagree with this.

Pro: Willis and Webb can be the 1-2 punch we need to win the West and go far in the playoffs. He has struggled but he is still a young guy and a change of scenery can get him back to Cy Young form.

Con: Why give up all or a part of a very promising future core of Baby Backs for a slumping pitcher when we could get him as a FA at the end of the season, and if we did win the west we will not go far against the Cardinals of the world. Better to let the Dodgers win the west this year and reload for '07 with some of the Baby Backs.

Here's the thing: Byrnes stated in an April 2 story in the Republic that the club may be willing to make a move by the trade deadline if the team is competitive by then. Notwithstanding the 7 game losing streak we are only one game behind Los Angeles and if we take 2 of 3 from the Giants this week we may very well end the homestand a game up on the Dodgers at least.

Let's at least think about it.

Here's the dream rotation for the second half of the season:

Webb
Willis
Batista
E. Gonzalez
Nippert

Come on! What do you say!

And who would we allow to go to Miami? Stephen Drew and maybe Lyon and Vizcaino and a couple of our draft picks?

Willis in purple pinstripes. 10-12 wins at least after the All-Star Break. We end the season 2-3 games ahead of LA and may even take the Cardinals to seven games, or five or whatever the NLDS is.

This team was sold to the fans as having the pieces to contend this year. We need to stick to that AND keep building for the future.

Otherwise we will turn into the CUBS of the west.

Can the D-Backs win the NL West this year?

I think they can if we can somehow get another pitcher to step it up before the All-Star Break. I am hoping Batista can really come on strong. Enrique Gonzalez is showing a lot of promise and I hope he can do well for us.

I wish there was a lot more power in the lineup but I know we can score a ton of runs if we just have a good leadoff single every couple of innings. When the D-Backs offense is on, there seem to be a lot of little bloop singles that advance the runners and then someone gets a timely RBI single or double, or even a 2 or 3 run homer.

I'm looking for Tracy, Jackson, DaVanon and Counsell to get back on track with the hitting and I want Tracy and Jackson to really start sending a few 2 and 3 run ribbies outta there. Gonzo is nowhere near the power hitter he once was, leading to speculation that his power in previous seasons was either a fluke or obtained "illegally".

Bob Melvin will not tinker much with the lineup, so we'll see how they do. I hope Counse can get it done again as the leadoff man because when he gets on that seems to be when things happen.

I thought the bullpen would be way, way better this year; I am puzzled by the slump of people like Medders and Jarvis and Lyon and especially Valverde, who was almost flawless in some of his early appearances. We need a closer that we know can get you a save each and every time.

And is Melvin doing a good job as manager? Some say he's not fiery enough, others say his relative inexperience is showing - but he was with the Mariners for those few years.

I think it may be hard but we should make a run for a pennant. it will give us big momentum going into the off-season and spring training 2007 when a few more of the impact players from the minors might be ready.

Diamondbacks page on Wikipedia

I have been contributing since last winter to the D-Backs Wikipedia page. Most of the early history section I rewrote extensively and added a "current events" section. Please feel free to keep making changes as you see fit as it is Wikipedia's policy to allow infinite edits to any article within reason.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Diamondbacks

A little bit about me and my baseball philosophy

My love of baseball pretty much began in my hometown of Oakland, California, home of the A's. By the time I started watching A's games on a regular basis (I was in high school), it was the era of Canseco and McGwire, Dave Stewart and Dennis Eckersley, Tony LaRussa and Dave Duncan. There was another team nearby, a National League team called the Giants that provided a few good memories as well.

Fast forward to 1993. I am a senior at the University of Arizona. The Rockies and the Marlins begin play and there is talk that Jerry Colangelo will get a team for Phoenix the next time MLB expands (he didn't quite get it done that time). I get married, divorced and move to Atlanta in 1996.

Atlanta, Georgia, the home of the Chop. 50,000 hands going up and down in unison singing the Florida State fight chant. And I found myself in the upper deck of Fulton County Stadium, myself, doing just that. David Justice was still on the team, and of course a younger Chipper Jones and Glavine and Smoltz. It got to the point where I stopped going to the games because the stadium (and later the beautiful Turner Field) was so packed. Being a Braves fan in Atlanta is like being a 49er fan in San Francisco or a Cowboys fan in Dallas: winning is just the normal way of doing things.

So I move around, relocating to Oklahoma City, then Dallas, then Las vegas - and now I have been here in Phoenix for two years. When Colangelo got the D-backs in 1995 i was overjoyed. It was hard to follow the purple crew in the ATL for obvious reasons and I couldn't see the D-Backs when they came to Turner Field because of work conflicts. So it was a big treat to finally set foot in Chase Field and root for my beloved D-backs - even though the team was a far cry from the one I celebrated in 2001, watching on FOX from my apartment about 6 miles from Turner Field.

Generally, I like my baseball:

American League style. That means power, speed and pitching. Guys who can get on base and drive in the three-run HR with consistency. Pitchers who can mix up speeds and get a lot of K's. An infield that's like a vacuum cleaner. And leaping catches on the wall to rob the opposing dinger. The spectacle of baseball is what attracts me the most - the effort and athleticism of the guys who take the field.

I'm not much on statistics of player performance outside of ERA, RBI, HR totals and BA. Do NOT expect detailed charts and lists of WHIP or OPS or any of that stuff from me. I am much more of a casual fan who just wants to watch a good team play a hard fought game and have a good time doing it.

Stats can be overrated and we can forget about things like emotion, guts, glory. Baseball is a game, first and foremost, played by real people who have real intangibles that the numbers can only reflect, not predict 100%. If someone is having a slump at the plate it could be that he's going through personal issues in his family or his marriage or something like that, we don't know. It should not affect his professional demeanor "at work" but we all know it has to sometimes.

Also, baseball, while it is a game I love, is something I place in perspective. It is a pastime. A form of entertainment. I can go weeks without watching one game and come back and enjoy myself. I do not have the time or inclination to pore over stats or to keep up on every hot prospect in the low minors that won't see major league action for months or even years in some cases. The rest of my life is fairly full: I am a graphic designer with interests ranging from fine art to politics. The Diamondbacks are but one aspect of life i enjoy, and while I want the franchise to be successful, I also don't lose any sleep over the performance of Counsell or Ortiz.

This year's D-Backs are a joy and a disappointment. I'll get to that as we go along.

A New Arizona Diamondbacks Fan Blog

Hello everyone. My name is Michael and I have been posting on AZSnakePit for the past couple of months or so. The experience has encouraged me to start my own fan blog about the D-Backs.

As the Diamondbacks grow in stature and become a better and better team, there need to be multiple outlets for fans to voice their opinions, mad and glad, about the Purple Gang.

I will not have many rules as to conduct here, except that posters should keep profanity to the bare minimum as I want this to be an all ages forum. Also, any agreements or disagreements, even though they may be (and should be) full of passion and conviction, should be always done tactfully and respectfully, keeping in mind the other guy (or gal)'s feelings.

Note: the views expressed on this forum are my privately held, personal opinions (and of those who freely choose to post) and reportage of facts and opinions obtained from other places. I (and others who post on here) reserve the right as a private citizen to freely air these views as I see fit in this forum, provided I abide by the terms of service of Blogger.com and obey all laws and stuff like that. The opinions expressed are not necessarily the views of the Diamondbacks, their media outlets, players, management or sponors.

Welcome and let's talk baseball!